moonslav59

I doubt we look to 2B for a big bat, too. I think we look at corner IF, first, I think Brez & Co alkready view Anthony as the second big bat "addition" despite the fact that he gave us 300 PAs in 2025, and we subtracted Devers, I don't like that idea, but I think it's reality. I also think they view mayer as the 3B or 2B solution- like it or not. They will probably run Yoshida back at DH for another season of powerless DH production. IMO, we simply have to make up for the lack of power at DH by looking beyond corner IF- like 2B or just add 2 power corner IF'ers and run it by with mayer and Story at middle IF and Yoshida/Romy at DH. Trade Duran plus___ for a solid arm and call it a winter. This is highly unlikely to happen, even if we don't go huge and just add Suarez and Hoskins.

I can totally see Drew's point. The first priority has to be adding a big bat. The second one could be either another big bat or a solid SP'er, but we really need all 3 about the same: 2 big bats and a big arm. I'm not sure I'd call Bregman a "big bat," but oif the other bat is Alonso or Schwarber, I'd be okay with Bregman, KMarte, Suarez or Polanco as the other one. I might think positions and defense matter more than Drew does, but I think we can do some things to improve what we already have- like Story to 2B, no Duran in the OF and more OF play from Abreu, Rafaela (no 2B/SS) and Anthony. (Jh Garcia is supposed to be pretty good on D, as well and has some power from the right side.) Alonso, Schwarber, Polanco, Bregman or Suarez do not make the D better. KMarte is better than what we had on D, this year, but I think he's about average. I think we can absorb the poor D, as long as the O gets helped enormously, and we still stay strong at the other slots. Some combo of those 5 players added to the IF would force Story to stay at SS or play 3B/2B with mayer at SS.

Exactly, and I often fall prey to the same habit. I assume the trends continue. I used to be strongly against the idea that the playoffs are more crapshoot than seeing skill- based results. I'm starting to swing more to the middle.

Polanco (actually has some power) and Torres for 2B? Trade for K Marte? Add a 3Bman and play Mayer at 2B? There are some options out there.

Because it's what they do, and it's worked so well, year after year.

It seems obvious Brez needs to trade from the OF and... gasp... pitching depth to upgrade thew quality in the IF (including a big power bat) and TOTR.

The've played musical chairs at 3B since the day Pedey got hurt. In the last 9 years (about 12000 innings at 2B) here are the Sox innings leaders: 2017-2025: Not one player has 1/9 of the innings. 1248 Arroyo (less than 1/10th of all innings.) Most innings in '22 & '23 1103 Holt (most in 2019) 1046 Nunez (most in 2018) 890 Pedey (most in 2017) 845 Valdez (most in '24) 814 Story 679 DHam 556 Chavis 472 Campbell (most innings in 2025) 418 Romy 357 Kike (most in '21) 332 Marco H 298 Kinsler 200-260: Marwin, Grissom, Reyes, Rafaela, urias, Arauz, Peraza (most in '20) 100-199: Sogard, Lin, Iggy, Y Sanchez, Westbrook, Rutledge 13 players 10-99 innings 7 players 1-9 innings Predicting another merry-go-round at 2B seems like a safe bet.

True. I think Story would be okay at 3B but much better at 2B. I share your immense concern with Mayer's ability to play a full season, so counting on him to play 3B 150 games scares me. We have no real depth at 3B, either.

Perhaps, the "Flippers." Let's see.

I get the "luck" and small sample size, but a .530 OPS Against and an ERA and other stats like the ones you posted almost looks like bad luck.

Assists: 397 Story 206 Bregman Almost identical throwing errors per throw.

Yup, but I might go Story at 3B or 2B and Mayer at SS. (Sign Suarez- yuck on 3B D, or Polanco/Torres for 2B)

I'm thrilled they keep him.

How about those Tigers? They had one of the most epic regular season collapses, barely squeaked into the playoffs and now are a game away from advancing into their third playoff series.

Good points. It seems strange to me that a pitcher can have a .530 OPS Against and still have those horrific side stats. It makes me wonder if using OPS for batters is worthwhile.

Ahhhh... the memories!

Indeed, then his boss trades away the only batter other teams did fear. Add to that the fact that he lost over 162 possible GSd from his #2 through #12 rotation pitchers. 33 Crawford 33 Sandoval 24 Houck 7 Gio 5 Bello 20+ Dobbins 10+ Fitts & Criswell Maybe 20+ from Priester (traded) and Perales (IL) And, this may be the biggest question: How many had faith in our pen going into 2025?

I'm with Hugh on this. I'd love Schwarber on our team, but he'll be 33 and is pretty much a SH only guy. It looks like Alonso should DH, too, but he's a RHB and turns 31, soon. It is hard to ignore these numbers per 162 games from '22-'25: 48 HRS 112 RBI .350 OBP & .500+ SLG (134 OPS+) Schwarber vs 40 HRs 118 RBI .335 OBP & .500+ SLG (134 OPS+) Alonso

That seems like the best choice in a vacuum, but if Breggie bolts Mayer cannot play SS and 3B. As you have said, he may not be able to even play 150 games if the season was 300 games long. I guess trading for a SS or 3Bman is a possibility, but I doubt we do that. Even if Breggie returns: 3B Breggie SS ______ (Mayer?) 2B Story

I hope they keep him and Cashman forever. Boone Forevers!

YANKS LOSE!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm not sure what "fits my narrative" means since I'm not trying to blame anyone singularly. I'm the guy you keep saying everyone was saying "Devers Forevers." I didnt want him traded. I wasnt happy we traded him. If anything, making Devers out to be the bad guy goes against my narrative. I think everyone missed his offense but were glad the drama was over. It doesn't matter who caused the drama. It was all 3, I guess.

Well, usually when a team's best batter for the last 5 years is traded, you hear players speak up in praise, best wishes and sometimes in confusion and with regret. At times, someone might speak out in anger or with concern about the direction the team is taking, especially during a season that still had promise for going farther that we've gone in years. I will say I'm surprised we didn't hear more "We're gonna miss him" talk. Maybe it doesn't mean anything, but it did seem pretty clear nobody went out of their way to say how much they were going to miss him or wonder what the team was doing. I'm not trying to read much into this, but I did find it a bit interesting.

A look at the 2026 Red Sox Pen: Many of us went into 2025 deeply dissatisfied with the quality of our pen. While it appeared to have depth, the quality of the expected high leverage pitchers was highly in doubt. The pen became one of our strengths, thanks in large part to a stunning season by Chapman and a strong year from Whitlock. The depth came through, despite not really drawing from the expected depth of SP'ers we had lined up over the winter. We may get to use more SP'ers in the pen in 2026, but I will start with the known pen arms on the roster: Chapman had a legendary season, and that is no hyperbole. 61.1 IP with just 28 hits (3 Hrs) and 15 BBs (0 HBP.) He K'd 85. His OPS Against was a mind-boggling .387! It's hard to expect anybody to repeat numbers like that, and for a guy who will be 38 to start the '26 season, it would be miraculous. Brez extended him, so we'll find out. I'm happy he's here. Whitlock had his first start-free season since his rookie year in 2021. Some might say it was no coincidence we made the playoffs in just these two seasons. If it wasn't for Chapman, we'd be marvelling at his .543 OPS Against for 2025. In 72 IP, he let up less HRs (2) than Chapman. I'm hopeful he can run back these numbers in '26. Slaten missed a lot of key time in 2025, and perhaps the most important thing for him is to just stay healthy for the full 2026 season. His rookie 2024 season was pretty amazing. He had a .576 OPS Against in 55 IP with a 6.4 K/BB. Although most of his numbers looked worse in 2026, he still logged a .580 OPS Against over 34 IP. Perhaps we can count on him to counter an expected regression from Chapman. I gotta say, I think we have an impressive top 3 RP'ers. Weissert caught some grief over the season, much of it during game thread lash-outs, but he did the job in 2025. He very well may outshine Fitts as the prize from the Dugo trade. He put in 67 IP with a decent .647 OPS Against. I'm hoping we can count on him, again in 2026. Bernardino had a second straight decent season. His .569 OPSA was impressive. He missed some time, near the end of the season, but I think he's locked into a sure slot on the 2026 26 man roster. Guerrero .530 OPSA in just 17 IP could still win a big role on the '26 roster. Murphy .598 OPSA in 35 IP looks great, but he walked too many batters and was inconsistent. He was coming off a long time off with injury, so maybe there is till hope for a significant role in 2026. Winckowski missed most of 2025, but was a decent pitcher for a few years, beforehand. His 2023 saw a 2.88 ERA, but he's never really had great numbers in other areas or measurement. Moran could be a surprise pitcher for 2026. Kelly did not impress but will likely get another long look in 2025. Hicks might have an inside shot at a slot on the 26, but only because he's out of options, gets paid $12M a year and throws near 100 mph. I won't go into all the SP'ers who may be converted to pen arms or used in the pen temporarily, but there could be some impressive skillsets available. I'm pretty confident in our 2026 pen outlook, despite losing Wilson, Matz and a few others.

"Can Cora." Geeesh.